MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – The Reeths-Puffer soccer team doesn’t like to be overlooked.

The Rockets were annoyed when a local publication, previewing the local Division 2 district tournament, mentioned what a tough bracket it would be with elite teams like Ludington, Fruitport and Spring Lake competing for the title.

The article never mentioned Reeths-Puffer, despite the fact that the Rockets had just won the championship in the very tough O-K Green conference tournament.

The Rockets used their annoyance to their advantage on Wednesday, opening up district play with an exciting 2-0 victory over Lakes 8 Conference champion Ludington.

“(The article) definitely helped our boys,” said Reeths-Puffer Coach Kody Harrell, whose team is now 11-5-4 and will host Spring Lake in the district semifinals on Tuesday. ”I talked to Kris (Ludington Coach Kris Anderson) and told him they were in for a storm, because our boys saw that.”

The victory was an extension of the Rockets’ recent hot spell. They started out the season strong, went through a late-season losing streak to Mona Shores, Holland and Spring Lake, then rebounded in the conference tournament by beating Wyoming, Holland and Zeeland East.

With those impressive wins in their wake, Reeths-Puffer doesn’t seem afraid of anybody.

‘I think it was good for our guys to see that kind of competition,” Harrell said about the regular-season losing streak. “Losing to Spring Lake, Mona Shores and Holland, 3-0 in all three games, we told the team that’s the type of teams you’re going to play in districts.

“If you want to be a real district championship contender, if you want to have the chance at the first regional win in school history, you will have to beat teams like that.”

The game-winning goal came with 25:16 remaining in the first half, when Reeths-Puffer star sophomore Liam Smith intercepted a failed clearing attempt by Ludington goalie Tiler Marrison and hit the mark from close range.

The only other goal came with just 1.9 seconds left in the game when Smith scored and put an exclamation point on the victory.

Smith said the Rockets have been motivated by the desire to prove they are an elite team.

“It’s simply the motivation to beat these teams that are getting more press, and more fame, I guess you would say, and show we deserve to be up there,” the sophomore said. “Our team is playing great right now.”

The other key play came early in the second half, when the ball was in the Reeths-Puffer box and the Orioles took a hard shot at a wide-open goal.

R-P defender JT Fansler managed to block the hard shot and preserve the lead, something his coach said he’s done often this season.

“He’s been doing stuff like that all year,” Harrell said about Fansler. “He has saved three back-door goals. That was his third play like that this season.”

Despite the close score, the outcome never seemed very much in doubt, because the Rockets controlled the offensive tempo most of the night, outshooting the talented Orioles 12-6, including 7-3 in the pivotal second half.

A took a few big saves by Marrison to keep the score as close as it was.

“That’s literally the verbage I used (to the team in the locker room), this time of year the best defense is a good offense,” Harrell said. “I told them we can’t let them be comfortable.”

After the game, Anderson told his clearly upset players that they had nothing to hang their heads about, because they had a great season and played a strong game.

“We had our chances, but they made the saves they needed to make,” said Anderson, whose team finished the season with an impressive 16-3-1 record. “One of our shots looked like it was going to go in, and they had a guy get in the way of it.

“It’s tough, especially after what we’ve done this season, the success we’ve had and how hard we’ve worked.”